The Promise
by Vain
Summary: Repost - HPSS Slash. Implied underage. A ballad in fifteen verses in which Harry has everything and loses it all. Complete.


**_The Promise_**  
**A Ballad  
**Vain  
11.8.2003

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**  
Standard Disclaimer**: I own nothing except the plot. Harry Potter and all the elements therein are the intellectual property / registered trademarks of JK Rowling, Scholastic Books, and Warner Brothers. 

This story was originally launched under my secondary pen name, "Hanakai." For convenience's sake, I have decided to streamline my fics under my original pen name, Vain. **_SAME AUTHOR._****_ SAME STORY. DIFFERENT NAME._** As a fic is re-uploaded under my Vain pen name, I will delete it from my Hanakai profile. Eventually, Hanakai will be deleted entirely, so please update your faves and bookmarks to reflect this.

_Thank you_ for all your previous reviews—I saved them all—and I hope you all review again. I'm greedy.

For progress notes on the pen name transition or if you have any questions, please see **my** **Livejournal** (linked both my profiles). I hope this doesn't inconvenience anyone & thank you for your patience.

**Warnings**: SS/HP slash, underage, character death. Unbeta-ed.

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**"_'Look for me by the moonlight;  
_****_Watch for me by the moonlight.  
_****_I'll come to thee by the moonlight,  
_****_Though hell should bar the way.'_"  
**_The Highwayman_  
**- Alfred Noyes**

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_  
I_t was raining; it was three am,  
The stars were blind and dim.  
A fey child came a-wand'ring down,  
All for the sake of Him.  
An average boy, a bit too short,  
With eyes that burned within,  
And down he took  
The winding stairs  
All for the sake of Him . . .  
_All for the sake of Him._

"Forbidden!" whispered silent stones.  
"Forbidden!" warned the wind.  
But the boy cared not, for all he thought  
Was for the sake of Him.  
"Turn back!" the sweeping hallways begged,  
"Return," beseeched the wind.  
And yet the boy  
Had set his pace:  
Down, down to Him.

Infatuation it was not –  
Nor a soul who sought its kin:  
Instead he'd seen his lover lost,  
Simply for loving him.  
One Master cruel, one Master stern,  
And He caught between them . . .  
And so the boy went,  
Through castle dark,  
All for the sake of Him . . .

And now it had happened, the worst had come:  
He'd paid for their both their sin:  
A student in a teacher's bed  
Discovered—Seen by **HIM**.  
There was no forgiveness, there was nothing kind;  
**HIS** revenge was swift and with vim.  
And the boy'd watched all,  
Though it tore at his soul,  
'Til the portkey was forced upon Him.

Yes, he'd seen the pain, the long back arced,  
The torment of this man,  
He knew what he'd find—what to expect  
After that vision off Him.  
There was no cure, no medicinal spell  
To forgive them of their sin.  
But "I'll return,"  
His lover'd sworn,  
"After seeing **HIM**."

So past the stones, and down the Halls,  
He walked, forsaking the wind.  
He'd see the man he loved in spite  
Of all **HE**'d done to Him.  
The door was dark and the darkness still,  
No sound was heard within.  
The youth entered,  
Darning not a breath,  
Longing to see Him.

And there He was!—His thin frame sprawled  
While all the lights were dim.  
The boy rushed to his teacher's side,  
Desperate to touch Him.  
"Severus!" he pled. "Severus!" he begged.  
Blood stained the pale man.  
"Severus!" he shrieked,  
His heart in his throat.  
Blood was staining Him.

It was too dark, He was too cold . . .  
Why wouldn't He look at him?  
The boy's hands shook as he tore at the robes  
That separated them.  
"_Severus!_" he screamed,  
Tears now on his face,  
"Wake up!" he cried to Him.  
But the silence stayed, a dark rebuke,  
A censure for loving Him.

"Forbidden," everyone had said,  
But he hadn't believed them.  
Forbidden, he knew and had not cared—  
Not if it was for Him.  
But now He lay, half on his lap,  
Bleeding out, alone, at the end.  
Forbidden they'd known,  
And kissed and not cared  
And _kissed_ . . . Just he and Him.

Then black eyes opened, found and saw  
The green eyes that burned within.  
"He knew," He croaked through bloodstained lips.  
"Punishe—" He choked, looking grim.  
"Shhh, I know," the pale boy said.  
"I know, was there, saw **HIM** . . .  
It's okay. It's alright.  
You're safe; I swear,"  
He whispered gently to Him.

He choked and gasped, His dark eyes rolled.  
Bluish and cold was His skin.  
"I came back," He wheezed as the red blood flowed.  
He'd come home to die with him.  
And the boy held tight as his lover breathed last:  
Punished for their sin.  
_"I came back."  
_The words seemed to echo on . . .  
_"I came back."  
_Yes, He'd come back to him.

Dawn broke cold and pale and dead.  
Dawn broke and, doing so, broke them.  
For he was spent, his lover dead,  
And for what? Just loving him.  
And down came Man with wands and Cures  
That could be of no use to them.  
And how shocked they were  
To find this boy  
Weeping . . . _sobbing_ for Him.

They tore him away, demanded false truths,  
They struggled to comprehend,  
And with cruel propriety pressured the youth  
Who would speak not a word to them.  
The Old Man, from his tower emerged,  
Swept him away, his blue eyes dim.  
"Harry, my child,  
_What happened_ last night?"  
But the boy could think only of Him.  
_Always only of Him . . ._

_Him_ on the floor. _Him_ lying dead.  
_Him_ in his arms, cold and thin.  
And so he spoke not, but bent every thought  
To the ache—all he had left within.  
_"I came back,"_ He'd choked out painfully.  
_"I came back,"_ as He'd promised him.  
But dawn had come  
And He was now gone  
All for the sake of him . . .

And every night after, until his death  
Which ended a monster's reign,  
When all was dark, still, and stark  
He'd hear the sound of rain.  
It was always raining; three am,  
The stars would be blind and dim.  
And a fey child'd come  
A-wand'ring down,  
All for the sake of Him.

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End file.
